


Cabin Fever

by Amerna



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Sexual Assault, Romance, Snowbound, Steve/Darcy Christmas Fic Exchange, mild swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 07:17:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5657491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amerna/pseuds/Amerna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy and Steve are stuck in the middle of a snowstorm. Things escalate quickly. Their relationship might not survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cabin Fever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [athiker10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/athiker10/gifts).



> I am so sorry that I'm late! This is for athiker10, who prompted the following:
> 
> 1) Darcy and Steve are cross country skiing, but one of them has never done it before  
> 2) There's 2 feet of snow on the ground and another 12 inches falling and (steve or darcy) is just so sick of shovelling that they pay the neighbor to do it.  
> 3) They're both stuck at a mutual friend's house in the middle of a snowstorm and can't leave.
> 
> I chose #3 and I interpreted "friend" very, very loosely. I hope you like it!
> 
> Thanks to the amazing [KByrd](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kbyrd), who did an awesome beta job.

### Cabin Fever

**December 22**

“Fucking finally,” Darcy muttered under her breath as she unplugged the thumb drive from the server and hid it back in her uniform. “Finally,” she repeated, as she stepped out of the underground server location that was secured so heavily that an extended undercover stint had been necessary to gain access to it.

It had taken her weeks to get to the data they needed. Weeks, during which she had played Elsa, the shy, unassuming maid/housekeeper for Stanley Campbell, black market arms dealer extraordinaire. Weeks, during which she had established trust with the lord of the manor. Weeks, during which she had only had minimal contact with the Avengers Initiative back home.

This morning Stanley had left to drive down to the village to make some last minute purchases for Christmas and gave Darcy the prime opportunity to enter the server room and get to the data they needed. With this in hand the Avengers would hopefully be able to take down his whole criminal network.

She had activated her beacon before entering the server room and her extraction was supposed to arrive any minute now. It was a wonder that it hadn’t arrived yet, but then the snow made it difficult to get to the isolated house in the mountains. Before he had left in the morning Stanley had told her that they had not had that much snow in years. Thanks global warming.

But now it was snowing heavily, the visibility decreasing with every minute. Darcy idly wondered how Stanley would make it back up from the village, not that she would ever know. Her extraction was supposed to arrive any minute now. Finally. The remote location and isolation was starting to get to her.

In a manner that reminded Darcy of a 1970s Bond villain, Stanley Campbell lived alone in the mountains in a remote estate. Unfortunately, his whole manor was unhackable since Stanley operated a closed system that was only accessible from inside the house.

The mark also lived alone and was a bit of a hermit. He didn’t throw parties, his security system was top notch and an analysis had revealed that it would take days to hack into even from inside. The Avengers had quickly decided that they needed somebody in the house for a longer time who would not rouse suspicions. In the end they had paid his maid/housekeeper handsomely to not appear at work and call in sick for a longer period of time to send in an agent as her replacement.

So Darcy had lived with and worked for Stanley Campbell for more than a month now. She was glad that she would be among company again soon. It wasn’t that the assignment itself had been horrible. Stanley had been an okay boss, but he had also been her only human contact in the last five weeks. The only other contact had been infrequent trips to the village for last minute grocery shopping and the occasional decoded messages she traded with the Avengers.

Stanley had certainly looked at her a lot. Darcy was after all a lot different from the 50-year-old housekeeper he had employed before and he was a man in his mid-30s with sparse human contact. But thankfully he had never made any advances towards her. That would have made things a lot worse.

Stanley had been… nice for the lack of a better word. It was not that Darcy took pity on him; he was a man of international repute, after all, a man whose unsavoury deals led to thousands if not millions of deaths, but still, she could by now kind of understand how people developed Stockholm syndrome. But not her. Darcy by now had a serious case of cabin fever. She just wanted out. Also, it was Christmas soon. She had plans for Christmas. She definitely didn’t want to spend it here, with Stanley. Not when her boyfriend was hopefully waiting back home.

She checked her watch impatiently. It was weird that nobody had arrived yet. Sure, they probably couldn’t fly the Quinjet in this weather, but one of the four-wheel drives should’ve made it up by now. She sincerely hoped that they hadn’t sent one of the baby agents who might’ve been too afraid to drive in this weather. If that led to her Christmas plans going awry, she would read everybody involved in that particular decision the riot act.

She could hear a car pulling up into the driveway and went to look out of one of the windows.

“Shit,” she swore under her breath. It was Stanley. That would make her extraction a lot more difficult. He wasn’t supposed to be back so soon. He couldn’t have made it back into the village and back. Had he suspected anything and was therefore returning earlier? Had she somehow blown her cover?

He drove slowly into the yard and Darcy realised that the right side of his car was dented. What the fuck? Had he been in an accident? Were the roads even more dangerous than he’d thought?

He stopped and got out and then walked around the car to help another person out. Darcy furrowed her brows. How had that happened? And she didn’t really need any additional witnesses here at the house. Seriously, this op was becoming more screwed-up by the second.

The person, a man, that got out of the passenger side looked up at the house so that Darcy got a good look at his face. Darcy’s only reaction was a sharp intake of breath.

Steve. What was he doing here?

He was obviously injured. There was blood on the side of his face and he was limping, leaning on Stanley heavily.

Darcy hurried outside to help and to get an overview of the situation. “Mr. Campbell, Sir,” she said, appropriately worried for the situation and her status as the maid, “what happened?”

“There was an accident,” he puffed out, because Steve was leaning on his shoulder heavily. “The roads are impassable and the visibility is terrible.”

Darcy went to Steve’s other side to help him back into the house.

“We bumped into each other and this person’s car swung off the road,” Stanley continued. “He’s injured but lucid. He insisted that he was fine, but I couldn’t just leave him there. It would take hours if not days for an ambulance to arrive so I took him back here. We can take care of him, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Darcy nodded. “Let’s get him to the living room and we can take a look at his injuries.”

They did that and deposited Steve on the couch. Stanley went to get the first aid kit, giving Darcy the opportunity to question Steve.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered urgently.

“I was sent as your extraction. Well, I volunteered.”

“Well, you are doing a marvellous job at it.”

“Contrary to popular belief I don’t control the weather,” Steve shot back.

“That’s not a popular belief about Captain America,” Darcy grinned. “Your head wound must be bad.”

“Not really. And the serum will take care of it in a few hours. Same with the sprained ankle.”

“You might need to keep up appearances for a while though,” Darcy pointed out.

“I’m not planning to stay here long, it’s just-” Steve began, but then Stanley returned back to the room, interrupting their moment.

“I don’t think the head wound is that bad, Mr. Campbell, Sir,” Darcy said, fussing over Steve, helping him to establish his cover. “Head wounds do have a tendency to bleed a lot, making them look worse then they are. I have siblings, I know. Do you know who you are?” she asked Steve loudly.

“Thomas, Thomas Wildernen,” Steve answered with one of the emergency cover identities they all had for unforeseen circumstances. Thankfully Steve, bearded and in jeans and flannel shirt, currently didn’t look like Captain America.

“And do you know what date it is?” Darcy asked further.

“December 22nd,” Steve answered.

“And do you know where you are?” Stanley asked.

“At your house, in the mountains,” Steve answered, looking at him. “I got lost on my way and we got into an accident.” Steve looked between the two of them. “Who are you?”

“Stanley Campbell,” he said, “and this is Elsa, my maid and housekeeper. She will take care of all your problems and requests during your stay.”

“My stay?” Steve repeated.

“Well, obviously you will stay with us during your recovery.”

“I cannot possibly accept that,” Steve started to protest.

“You need to,” Stanley explained. “All the roads are blocked because of the snow. I’m afraid you are stuck with us.”

“Really,” Steve said, “this is not necessary. The snow storm will just continue for another few hours and then I’ll be on my merry way. No need to make any extra effort on my part. And I am sure that you have Christmas plans and everything.”

“No, it’s just Elsa and me, alone, for Christmas. And the forecast is not in your favour. We might have snow for another day or two.”

“I really shouldn’t impose-” Steve began again.

“It’s no imposition if it’s not your fault. Really, it’s all caused by the snow storm.”

Steve sighed deeply.

“Is there anybody you need to call?” Darcy asked. Because they should definitely try to contact the other Avengers about the situation.

“No,” Steve shook his head. “It’s just me and my girlfriend is abroad for Christmas.” Darcy stared at him, wondering how Steve didn’t catch her double meaning. “But,” Steve added as an afterthought, “I should probably call my sister. She might worry. Just in case.”

“Elsa will take care of it,” Stanley said. “And Elsa, prepare one of the guest rooms. And try to find something for our guest to wear, he cannot walk around in blood stained clothing. And we are good to feed another person for another few days, right?”

“Yes, Mr. Campbell, Sir.”

“Good, good. Well, it seems that we are having company for Christmas.”

 

**December 23**

“I made sure that your room isn’t bugged,” Darcy told Steve early in the morning, when she brought him breakfast in bed. “But still, we have to be careful. Stanley totally checked you out. He ran the number you called yesterday, too, to let Nat know what happened. Your cover might be air tight, but prepare for some questions. We all know how terrible you can be at undercover work. So you might want to stay close to the truth.”

“I know,” Steve bit back. “Not everybody takes to it so naturally like you and Natasha.”

“It was a surprise for me, too,” Darcy shot back. “And what’s with the sharp tone?”

Steve sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m just getting itchy, being stuck here.”

“After less then 24 hours? I’ve been here for weeks, Steve. _Weeks_.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said. “Maybe we should focus on the positive side… It could totally be romantic. We are here together, in the snow. It actually looks a lot like a winter wonderland. I can be nice! And then the sneaking around so we won’t get caught. It can totally be romantic,” Steve decided nodding decisively.

Darcy stared at him, one eyebrow raised. “For you maybe, me: I have a job to do. You know, I didn’t bring you breakfast in bed just because I like you so much and have stuff to discuss. Stanley ordered me to. You, the esteemed, injured house guest, add more work to my maid duties.”

As if on cue they could hear “ELSA!” being yelled at the other end of the house.

Darcy sighed. “Duty calls. And don’t forget to limp when you make it down to the living room. Thomas Wildernen is still injured.”

~*~

Darcy was serving dinner when Stanley started his interrogation. Being cooped up at the house together was driving her crazy. Why didn’t they just overpower Stanley and tie him to a chair anyway? She would have to ask Steve the next time they had a moment alone.

“Do you ski, Thomas?” Stanley asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Steve said, pretending to be apologetic. “But it’s never too late to take it up, right?”

Not if Darcy had any saying in it. No skiing vacation for them. All future vacations would be to warm places. And undercover assignments, too.

“But surely you must work out.” Stanley looked Steve up and down. “You certainly look like it.”

“Um, yes. I do. A lot of cardio.”

More like getting a pounding from the God of Thunder, Darcy thought. And running with Bucky, the two of them mocking slower runners (Sam) that couldn’t keep up with them.

“I do base jumping, too.” Steve further volunteered.

Jumping off buildings for Sam to catch you.

“And skydiving.”

Without a parachute. Bucky told her. Every. Single. Time. The two had weekly meetings, too, to make sure that Bucky wasn’t developing an ulcer or an aneurysm or heart attack over his best friend’s destructive tendencies.

“And I own a motorcycle. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie.”

Understatement of the century.

“Then skiing is the right thing for you!” Stanley said, delighted. “I am going to tell you all about it.”

 

**December 24**

On his way to breakfast the next morning, Steve was grabbed at by a tiny hand and then he was manhandled into a small alcove. It took all of Steve’s willpower to not react instinctively and trying to overpower his “attacker”. Being stuck inside, in closed quarters, with only two other persons, was getting to him.

“Why am I a maid?” Darcy grumbled. “On our next mission we are going to the Caribbean and you can be the undercover pool boy. And I’ll be sitting by the pool, leering. My undercover identity is a young, insanely rich widow, who killed her three previous husbands – all of them old, senile, rich – by herself.”

“This is what you wanted to talk about?” Steve tried to make fun of the situation, because clearly Darcy was as annoyed as he was. “Not the mission?”

“Well, the mission is a total bust, it was supposed to end days ago, but we are stuck here in the middle of nowhere because of a frickin’ snow storm. Jesus Christ, how many feet of snow did we have by now? 85? 100? I never want snow again.”

“You live in New York,” Steve pointed out.

“Not helpful. Also, this is basically the the set-up of a goddamn Bond movie. Including the high-speed ski chases or whatever Stanley was thinking about when he told you all about skiing and extreme sports last night. That man has heart eyes, dude. Seriously, you are like his new bestie.”

“You jealous?” Steve teased.

Darcy punched him in the arm, hard. “No, but this is so not how I envisioned our first Christmas together. I had plans you know. They involved champagne and frilly stuff with red lace.”

“Maybe we’ll still make it.”

“Have you seen the forecast? There’s going to be another two feet in the next 24 hours. We are not going to leave any time soon.” Darcy was silent for a moment. “Why don’t we just knock him out?” she then asked. “Between the two of us we can totally overpower him. Tie him to a chair and all.”

“That’s not part of the mission objective,” Steve pointed out. “He is supposed to never know that we stole the data from him. We’ll monitor him and his associates for a longer time to get them all.”

“Damn your logic.”

“Hey, look at the bright side: At least we have electricity and food and shelter and all.”

**December 25**

“You totally jinxed it yesterday,” Darcy accused him the next morning, when they noticed that they had lost power over night. “You totally jinxed it.”

“And here I was almost ready to comment that we are lucky that the roof hasn’t caved in yet,” Steve said acerbically.

Darcy glared at him, then sighed deeply. “I’m sorry, it’s not you… it’s just cabin fever. That’s what it is.”

“I know, I have it too. I almost offered to go outside and do some snow shovelling, but then I remembered I shouldn’t because I am still supposed to have a sprained ankle.”

“Well, I am going to find all the candles,” Darcy said. “And blankets. And other stuff that keeps us warm and all. And then figure out how to make food without any electricity. And feel free to do whatever helps. Stanley, lord of the manor that he is, is not going to help at all. I’ll do all the work.”

“Will do.”

~*~

“I see the way you look at her,” Stanley whispered.

They were in the main living room, where Darcy had started a fire in one of the fireplaces. They were huddled in their warmest winter clothes and all the blankets they could find in the house. Darcy had just left the room to find more candles and Steve’s gaze had followed her out of the room. God, this was so ridiculous. How had they ended up here?

“Sorry?” Steve asked, pretending to be confused.

“Elsa,” Stanley clarified. “I see the way you look at her. As if you want to devour her.” That was why Steve had never been good at undercover work. He had trouble keeping his feelings in check. Now he stared at Stanley for a second, unsure how he should play this.

“I could definitely arrange something,” Stanley continued. “You know, if you want to make a move, I could help. She is my employee after all. I might be able to… persuade her.”

Steve looked at him, disgusted. “She’s your maid, not a prostitute. And you are not her pimp.”

“Still, it’s just you and me and her, all alone here. The power is out. If you want to do something, nobody will ever know. She’s a woman, we are two men, we definitely have the advantage here.”

Steve’s mouth fell open. “She’s a woman,” he then said pointedly, barely containing his increasing rage, “a person. Not a piece of meat. I would never impose on her.”

Stanley shrugged as if he had not a worry in the world. “She has great assets,” he said, unaware that Steve had to restrain himself from punching him. “Who wouldn’t want a piece of that? It’s not like I haven’t thought about it myself. I’m a red-blooded man after all. And if she doesn’t want to… comply with my advances, there are ways.”

“Are you seriously thinking about… raping her?” Steve hissed.

“Rape is such an ugly word-” Stanley began, but didn’t get any further, because with one well-aimed right hook in the face Steve knocked him out cold.

Steve was standing over the unmoving body and trying to determine what to do next, when Darcy came back into the room. She took one look at the unconscious mark and at Steve’s thunderous expression and then sighed deeply.

“I’m going to get the cable binders,” she then simply said, “to tie him to a chair. You find something to gag him with.”

The tied Stanley up in silence and then got him a blanket, too, so that he wouldn’t freeze to death.

“Okay, one question,” Darcy finally broke their silence. “What the fuck happened to ‘not our mission objective’?”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said, apologetic, “but he made some remarks and-”

“Jesus Steve,” Darcy shook her head, “your cabin fever is worse than mine. Get a hold of yourself.”

“He was thinking about raping you,” Steve hissed. “I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t-”

“I am perfectly capable of defending myself,” Darcy cut him off. “No need for you to be so noble.”

“That is not the point,” Steve countered. “He is a terrible human being.”

“You are only getting that now? Now that he made some remarks about _me_? I thought supplying weapons to terrorist organisations would qualify for that verdict already. But then you were doing a marvellous job at being dudebros, so…”

“What?” Steve stared at her. “I was maintaining cover.”

“Right,” Darcy said. “We could’ve knocked him out days ago! Tied him to a chair! Then this… being stuck with you would’ve been much nicer! But no, you had to play Mr. Nice Guy and basically become his new best friend. Just to punch the living daylights out of him the moment he threatened my honour or something.”

“Well, sexual assault is something I take fairly seriously!”

“So do I, but that’s not the point here.”

“Then what is the point?” Steve threw up his hands in exasperation.

Darcy dragged her hand across her face. “At this point I’m not sure any more.”

“We should just contact the Avengers to get us out,” Steve suggested.

“How are we supposed to contact them? Smoke signals?” Darcy said mockingly. “All the communication is down. And even Clint, our best pilot, couldn’t fly the Quinjet in this weather.”

“Well, at least I am being proactive here,” Steve said. “You have yet to produce a suggestion.”

“Let’s just not talk for a while,” Darcy sounded tired. “At this rate our relationship might not survive being snowbound.”

 

**December 26**

“Work for the new Avengers Initiative, they said,” Darcy mumbled while she added more wood to the fireplace. “It will be fun, they said. You will make a difference, they said. Interesting operations with highly skilled professionals, they said.”

“I heard that!” Steve said from the other side of the room, where he was checking Stanley’s ties. He was conscious again and just stared between the two of them, but was thanks to the gag not able to say anything.

“You were meant to,” Darcy shot back. “Also: Why didn’t you bring your shield? We totally could’ve used it as a toboggan.”

“And out of the two of us you are supposed to be the one better at undercover missions,” he countered. “With the shield my cover would’ve been blown within seconds.”

“Well, you are the man with a plan,” Darcy said snidely. “Isn’t that like being a boy scout. Always be prepared or something?”

“Well, as you can see, _darling_ , I wasn’t prepared for snow,” Steve bit back. “Also, I just want to point out that, for obvious reasons. I. Don’t. Like. The. Cold.”

Darcy glared at him. “If that’s an attempt to low key get me to huddle up with you for warmth, your strategy is not working.”

“It wasn’t and it’s your loss.”

 

**December 27**

“Fucking finally,” Darcy just told Natasha as she stalked past Steve to the Quinjet that had landed a few minutes ago, when the snow storm had finally cleared. Apparently the Avengers were done with being covert and did whatever was necessary to retrieve them. “Our relationship might not have survived another day being stuck here.” She placed the thumb drive into Natasha’s hand. “This is the data; we need to move quick because Steve took Stanley out. To defend my honour.”

Steve glared at her and Darcy just glared back, then sat down in one of the seats the farthest away from the cockpit, from where Clint was surveying the scene in very apparent amusement.

“Nobody speak to me for a while now,” Darcy grumbled. “I just need some peace and quiet. And another assignment that posts me to the Caribbean, where I can lie on the pool all day and enjoy fruity cocktails.”

They passed the majority of the flight in silence. Natasha and Clint were in the cockpit. Natasha was updating the mission objective. The Avengers would probably suit up as soon as they were back at the base to use the data Darcy had gathered. Stanley had been knocked out with sedatives so he wouldn’t know where they were taking him. They would interrogate him later. Steve was sitting at the other end of the Quinjet, tablet in hand and reading up on what he had been missing while they had been snowbound and was probably also making plans for the follow-up mission. Darcy was staring at her own screen, trying to figure out how to write her post mission report. The mission had been a disaster.

Steve sat down next to her, making her look up a him. “I’m sorry I was such an idiot,” he said quietly.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Darcy apologised.

“I’m sorry I made a mess.”

“It’s not your fault. You just wanted to help. Cabin fever got to us pretty quickly. But I shouldn’t have been so bitchy to you.”

“Well, you’ve been cooped up there longer than I was,” Steve pointed out. “I just arrived and ruined the mission.”

“You didn’t. It was bound to fail the moment the snow storm started.” Darcy let her head rest against his shoulder and Steve pulled her closer. “It was… force majeure or whatever it’s called.”

“I’ll behave better on our next joint mission,” Steve promised.

“No need for that. And thanks for knocking Stanley out. He’s a despicable human being but he managed to hide it quite well while I was working for him.”

Steve grinned at her. “You are welcome.”

They were quiet for a moment. “So we are good?” Steve asked.

Darcy lifted her head and kissed him softly. “Yeah, we are good. You are going on another mission as soon as we land, right?”

“Yeah. We have to take out Stanley’s associates quickly, before they realise what data we have and can reorganise. Sam, Tony, Bucky and Thor have already started dismantling the network.”

“Shame,” Darcy just said. “You know how I had plans and all. Champagne and frilly stuff with red lace.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want that to go to waste,” Steve grinned. “Also: Our next Christmas will be better.”

“But if we are ever going to do a mission around this time of the year, we are totally going to the Caribbean.”

 

**December 24, the next year**

“Another drink, Mrs. Morgan?” the poolside waiter asked with a bright smile.

Darcy looked at him over the rim of her sunglasses and gave him the once over not even trying to be discreet. “Yes, please,” she told him. “A fruity cocktail. Your choice,” she added, flirting very obviously. She was the insanely rich maneater widow after all.

“Tell me, Daniel,” she asked the waiter when he returned with her drink in hand. She had followed his every movement. His swim trunks were doing things to her. She had definitely caught herself a handsome man. “What else can you do at this very exclusive island resort?” Where a major black market arms deal was supposed to happen any day now. Originally, she and Steve were supposed to be on their honeymoon. But then, they could totally enjoy the sun and fight crime at the same time.

He grinned at her and then bent down to whisper into her ear. “Well, I am going for a midnight swim tonight,” Steve said huskily. “The weather will be perfect for that,” meaning that their marks had not arrived yet and they were free to do what they wanted to do until then. “Maybe you would care to join me, Mrs.” Steve paused for a second, obviously implying that he wanted to say “Rogers” instead of “Morgan” as required by her cover.

Darcy stared at him, breathing heavily. “I might l take you up on that.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [amerna](http://amerna.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. Come and talk to me if you like!


End file.
